


According To Alice

by LilyAnson



Category: Original Work, Poetry - Fandom
Genre: 4 Word Challenge, Alice in Wonderland References, Original Poetry - Freeform, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 20:32:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4891153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyAnson/pseuds/LilyAnson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The four words for the challenge were: effluvium, red, candle, volcano.</p>
    </blockquote>





	According To Alice

**Author's Note:**

> The four words for the challenge were: effluvium, red, candle, volcano.

**According to Alice**

Lost amongst the floating fragments of a dream  
I wander past the shimmer trees and rainbow fields  
"What are you doing here," whispers the wind  
......"We don't accept visitors."  
"I am looking for the Red Queen," I tell the wind  
"There are no Queens here. Only prisoners."  
Ignoring the breeze I continued

With naught but a destination I travel  
I follow no trail nor road  
"Tell me what you seek," the ground rumbles  
......"And I will create a path."  
"I seek my destination," I state simply  
"And you will become lost. The same as all the others."  
Paying no head to the rumbling ground I continued

Sprites fluttered from flowers nearby  
One danced closer, alighting on my shoulder  
"What is it you desire," it quarried  
......"We can provide it."  
"You can hold no candle to what I seek," I told her.  
"You will never find what is lost. Here it will ever remain."  
Taking my leave I continue.

Ambling along I watch the ever morphing scenery  
Admiringly, sadly; above all, with respect.  
Azure grass and magenta skies.  
Bronzed oceans, lavender leafed forests

Lost in this non-existent world  
With suspended reality  
I followed no landmark. Searched for no sign  
To do so would gain me nothing but lost

Passing through the various environments  
I was as an archaeologist, searching through the effluvium  
Seeking a hidden treasure  
In-situ, unaltered, unchanged

As I traveled I passed a meadow of quaking rocks.  
The rocks shivered. Shuddered. Shattered.  
Pieces lazily lazily drifted back down  
Like slow moving volcanic fallout  
"Halt, you do not belong. Leave whilst you have a choice."

I turned to the speaker and studied him.  
"I belong where I choose, who are you to say otherwise?"  
"I am the White Rabbit and you're late."  
"No. You are the March Hare time does not exist here."  
"Alice will naught receive you."  
"She does not have to. I will receive myself."  
"You will fail."  
"I will have tried."

Turning from all signposts  
Ignoring all paths  
I trek across the landscape  
Beautiful, I think to myself. But lonely.

"Halt. You cannot be here."

"I will be where I please."  
"Not here."  
"Yes, even here."  
"You are not welcomed."  
"I seek no welcome."  
"Leave or stay. It is your life."  
"I will stay."

I watch the trees tremble  
The ground sways  
and I fall to a knee  
Yet I remain.

"Why do you persist?"  
"My reward is greater."  
"And the price is high."  
I nod.

"The price is high,  
but the reward is great. I will stay."  
"You will leave."  
The ground trembles once again.

"This world is but a dream."  
I nod once at the being before me.  
"No can subsist here."  
"After all the dreaming I have come home."

The image stills. Pondering.  
"Home is where the heart is."  
"There is no heart here."  
......"Only loneliness."  
"I decide my future.  
You do not decide that.  
Not even here."

I feel the eyes upon me.  
As the silent fantasy appraises.  
"We shall see."  
"We shall."

With no last look  
I embrace my world  
My life  
My dream.  
According to Alice.


End file.
